Nicholas Bethell
Encyclopedia
Nicholas William Bethell, 4th Baron Bethell (19 July 1938 – 8 September 2007) was a British
politician
. He was an historian
of Central
and Eastern Europe
. He was also a translator and human rights
activist. He sat in the House of Lords
as a Conservative
from 1967 to 1999. He served as an appointed member of the European Assembly from 1975 to 1979, and as an elected Member of the European Parliament
from 1979 to 1994, and from 1999 to 2003.
in the Second World War. His father was the third son of John Bethell
, a banker and Liberal
politician, who became 1st Baron Bethell
in 1922. His mother was the daughter of Lieutenant Colonel
Robert Barlow. His parents divorced in 1946. His mother subsequently remarried three times.
. He trained as a Russian translator during his National Service
from 1956 to 1958, and studied Oriental Languages at Pembroke College, Cambridge University
, specialising in Arabic and Persian. He graduated in 1962, and befriended Polish
students in Cambridge. He continued his education at Cambridge as a mature adult, and earned his PhD
in 1987.
Radio Drama department from 1964 to 1967.
as a Conservative
until the House of Lords Act 1999
removed most hereditary peer
s from the chamber. He was appointed as a Lord in Waiting (a government whip in the House of Lords
) in June 1970, after the 1970 general election
.
and Polish
, Bethell often translated the works of Russian and Polish writers into English. After he published a translation of Aleksandr Solzhenitsyn
's Cancer Ward, an article by Auberon Waugh
in Private Eye
in 1971 suggested Bethell had published the work without permission, and had enabled the Soviet authorities to arrest Solzhenitsyn for circulating anti-Soviet propaganda. Bethell won a libel suit, but was forced to resign as a whip in January 1971 to pursue the litigation, and the controversy denied him a place on Edward Heath
's list of Conservative candidates to be appointed to the European Parliament. Heath later refused to discuss the matter with him, but government papers released in 2002 under the 30 year rule revealed that Bethell's contacts with people in Communist Russia and Poland were thought to be a security risk.
Solzhenitsyn later reopened the issue, claiming that he had not authorised a Czech dissident, Pavel Licko, to give the manuscript to Bethell, and that Licko was a Soviet agent. Bethell rejected those claims, pointing out that Solzhenitsyn had accepted royalties from the publication of the translation over the years. Solzhenitsyn had been completely unknown in the West until Cancer Ward was published, and he won the 1970 Nobel Prize for Literature, primarily for this work, although he was banned by the Soviet government from receiving it until 1974.
became leader of the Conservative Party. He was nominated to become a member of the European Parliament
from 1975 to 1979, and sat as an elected MEP
for London Northwest from 1979 to 1994. He set up the "Freedom of the Skies" in 1980, campaigning to force airlines to reduce their prices which he believed were artificially inflated by a cartel
. Perceived as too European, he was not re-elected in 1994, but returned to the European Parliament as MEP for London Central
from 1999 to 2003. He was awarded the European People's Party
's Schuman Medal in 2003.
Bethell was staunchly anti-communist
. In such books as Betrayed, he strongly supported the Anglo-American efforts to overthrow the Communist regimes of Eastern Europe. What Bethell criticized was the execution of such operations, not their goal. He used his European post to campaign for the human rights
of dissident
s in the Soviet bloc, including Andrei Sakharov
and Anatoly Sharansky. He took a leading role in the foundation of the Sakharov Prize
, awarded by the European Parliament
since 1985. After the fall of Communism, he continued to support critics of the Russian government, such as Vladimir Gusinsky
and Alexander Litvinenko
. He was also one of the first people to interview Nelson Mandela
at Pollsmoor Prison in 1985.
British, serving as president of the Friends of Gibraltar's Heritage from 1992 to 2001. For this he received the Freedom of the City of Gibraltar and the Gibraltar Medallion of Honour
in 2008. He also opposed the Turkish
occupation of northern Cyprus, and was president of the Friends of Cyprus Association from 2001.
. He enjoyed playing tennis
and poker
, and was a member of the Garrick Club
and Pratt's
.
He suffered from Parkinson's disease
in later life, dying at age 69. He was survived by his second wife, and his three sons. He was succeeded in the barony by his eldest son, James Bethell, the 5th Baron Bethell.
United Kingdom
The United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern IrelandIn the United Kingdom and Dependencies, other languages have been officially recognised as legitimate autochthonous languages under the European Charter for Regional or Minority Languages...
politician
Politician
A politician, political leader, or political figure is an individual who is involved in influencing public policy and decision making...
. He was an historian
Historian
A historian is a person who studies and writes about the past and is regarded as an authority on it. Historians are concerned with the continuous, methodical narrative and research of past events as relating to the human race; as well as the study of all history in time. If the individual is...
of Central
Central Europe
Central Europe or alternatively Middle Europe is a region of the European continent lying between the variously defined areas of Eastern and Western Europe...
and Eastern Europe
Eastern Europe
Eastern Europe is the eastern part of Europe. The term has widely disparate geopolitical, geographical, cultural and socioeconomic readings, which makes it highly context-dependent and even volatile, and there are "almost as many definitions of Eastern Europe as there are scholars of the region"...
. He was also a translator and human rights
Human rights
Human rights are "commonly understood as inalienable fundamental rights to which a person is inherently entitled simply because she or he is a human being." Human rights are thus conceived as universal and egalitarian . These rights may exist as natural rights or as legal rights, in both national...
activist. He sat in the House of Lords
House of Lords
The House of Lords is the upper house of the Parliament of the United Kingdom. Like the House of Commons, it meets in the Palace of Westminster....
as a Conservative
Conservative Party (UK)
The Conservative Party, formally the Conservative and Unionist Party, is a centre-right political party in the United Kingdom that adheres to the philosophies of conservatism and British unionism. It is the largest political party in the UK, and is currently the largest single party in the House...
from 1967 to 1999. He served as an appointed member of the European Assembly from 1975 to 1979, and as an elected Member of the European Parliament
Member of the European Parliament
A Member of the European Parliament is a person who has been elected to the European Parliament. The name of MEPs differ in different languages, with terms such as europarliamentarian or eurodeputy being common in Romance language-speaking areas.When the European Parliament was first established,...
from 1979 to 1994, and from 1999 to 2003.
Early life
Bethell's parents were William Gladstone Bethell (11 April 1904 - 17 October 1964) and Ann Margaret Frances (née Barlow; died 17 August 1996). His father was a stockbroker who served in the Royal ArtilleryRoyal Artillery
The Royal Regiment of Artillery, commonly referred to as the Royal Artillery , is the artillery arm of the British Army. Despite its name, it comprises a number of regiments.-History:...
in the Second World War. His father was the third son of John Bethell
John Bethell, 1st Baron Bethell
John Henry Bethell, 1st Baron Bethell , known as Sir John Bethell, 1st Baronet, from 1911 to 1922, was a British banker and Liberal politician....
, a banker and Liberal
Liberal Party (UK)
The Liberal Party was one of the two major political parties of the United Kingdom during the 19th and early 20th centuries. It was a third party of negligible importance throughout the latter half of the 20th Century, before merging with the Social Democratic Party in 1988 to form the present day...
politician, who became 1st Baron Bethell
Baron Bethell
Baron Bethell, of Romford in the County of Essex, is a title in the Peerage of the United Kingdom. It was created in 1922 for the banker and Liberal politician Sir John Bethell, 1st Baronet, who had previously represented Romford and East Ham North in Parliament. He had already been created a...
in 1922. His mother was the daughter of Lieutenant Colonel
Lieutenant colonel
Lieutenant colonel is a rank of commissioned officer in the armies and most marine forces and some air forces of the world, typically ranking above a major and below a colonel. The rank of lieutenant colonel is often shortened to simply "colonel" in conversation and in unofficial correspondence...
Robert Barlow. His parents divorced in 1946. His mother subsequently remarried three times.
Education
Bethell was educated at HarrowHarrow School
Harrow School, commonly known simply as "Harrow", is an English independent school for boys situated in the town of Harrow, in north-west London.. The school is of worldwide renown. There is some evidence that there has been a school on the site since 1243 but the Harrow School we know today was...
. He trained as a Russian translator during his National Service
National service
National service is a common name for mandatory government service programmes . The term became common British usage during and for some years following the Second World War. Many young people spent one or more years in such programmes...
from 1956 to 1958, and studied Oriental Languages at Pembroke College, Cambridge University
Pembroke College, Cambridge
Pembroke College is a constituent college of the University of Cambridge, England.The college has over seven hundred students and fellows, and is the third oldest college of the university. Physically, it is one of the university's larger colleges, with buildings from almost every century since its...
, specialising in Arabic and Persian. He graduated in 1962, and befriended Polish
Poland
Poland , officially the Republic of Poland , is a country in Central Europe bordered by Germany to the west; the Czech Republic and Slovakia to the south; Ukraine, Belarus and Lithuania to the east; and the Baltic Sea and Kaliningrad Oblast, a Russian exclave, to the north...
students in Cambridge. He continued his education at Cambridge as a mature adult, and earned his PhD
PHD
PHD may refer to:*Ph.D., a doctorate of philosophy*Ph.D. , a 1980s British group*PHD finger, a protein sequence*PHD Mountain Software, an outdoor clothing and equipment company*PhD Docbook renderer, an XML renderer...
in 1987.
Political and literary career
After he graduated, Bethell worked for the Times Literary Supplement from 1962 to 1964, and was a script editor for the BBCBBC
The British Broadcasting Corporation is a British public service broadcaster. Its headquarters is at Broadcasting House in the City of Westminster, London. It is the largest broadcaster in the world, with about 23,000 staff...
Radio Drama department from 1964 to 1967.
House of Lords
His father died in 1964, and he inherited the barony on the unexpected early death of his cousin Guy on 2 December 1967. He sat in the House of LordsHouse of Lords
The House of Lords is the upper house of the Parliament of the United Kingdom. Like the House of Commons, it meets in the Palace of Westminster....
as a Conservative
Conservative Party (UK)
The Conservative Party, formally the Conservative and Unionist Party, is a centre-right political party in the United Kingdom that adheres to the philosophies of conservatism and British unionism. It is the largest political party in the UK, and is currently the largest single party in the House...
until the House of Lords Act 1999
House of Lords Act 1999
The House of Lords Act 1999 was an Act of the Parliament of the United Kingdom that was given Royal Assent on 11 November 1999. The Act reformed the House of Lords, one of the chambers of Parliament. For centuries, the House of Lords had included several hundred members who inherited their seats;...
removed most hereditary peer
Hereditary peer
Hereditary peers form part of the Peerage in the United Kingdom. There are over seven hundred peers who hold titles that may be inherited. Formerly, most of them were entitled to sit in the House of Lords, but since the House of Lords Act 1999 only ninety-two are permitted to do so...
s from the chamber. He was appointed as a Lord in Waiting (a government whip in the House of Lords
House of Lords
The House of Lords is the upper house of the Parliament of the United Kingdom. Like the House of Commons, it meets in the Palace of Westminster....
) in June 1970, after the 1970 general election
United Kingdom general election, 1970
The United Kingdom general election of 1970 was held on 18 June 1970, and resulted in a surprise victory for the Conservative Party under leader Edward Heath, who defeated the Labour Party under Harold Wilson. The election also saw the Liberal Party and its new leader Jeremy Thorpe lose half their...
.
Controversy
Fluent in RussianRussian language
Russian is a Slavic language used primarily in Russia, Belarus, Uzbekistan, Kazakhstan, Tajikistan and Kyrgyzstan. It is an unofficial but widely spoken language in Ukraine, Moldova, Latvia, Turkmenistan and Estonia and, to a lesser extent, the other countries that were once constituent republics...
and Polish
Polish language
Polish is a language of the Lechitic subgroup of West Slavic languages, used throughout Poland and by Polish minorities in other countries...
, Bethell often translated the works of Russian and Polish writers into English. After he published a translation of Aleksandr Solzhenitsyn
Aleksandr Solzhenitsyn
Aleksandr Isayevich Solzhenitsyn was aRussian and Soviet novelist, dramatist, and historian. Through his often-suppressed writings, he helped to raise global awareness of the Gulag, the Soviet Union's forced labor camp system – particularly in The Gulag Archipelago and One Day in the Life of...
's Cancer Ward, an article by Auberon Waugh
Auberon Waugh
Auberon Alexander Waugh was a British author and journalist, son of the novelist Evelyn Waugh. He was known to his family and friends as Bron Waugh.-Life and career:...
in Private Eye
Private Eye
Private Eye is a fortnightly British satirical and current affairs magazine, edited by Ian Hislop.Since its first publication in 1961, Private Eye has been a prominent critic and lampooner of public figures and entities that it deemed guilty of any of the sins of incompetence, inefficiency,...
in 1971 suggested Bethell had published the work without permission, and had enabled the Soviet authorities to arrest Solzhenitsyn for circulating anti-Soviet propaganda. Bethell won a libel suit, but was forced to resign as a whip in January 1971 to pursue the litigation, and the controversy denied him a place on Edward Heath
Edward Heath
Sir Edward Richard George "Ted" Heath, KG, MBE, PC was a British Conservative politician who served as Prime Minister of the United Kingdom and as Leader of the Conservative Party ....
's list of Conservative candidates to be appointed to the European Parliament. Heath later refused to discuss the matter with him, but government papers released in 2002 under the 30 year rule revealed that Bethell's contacts with people in Communist Russia and Poland were thought to be a security risk.
Solzhenitsyn later reopened the issue, claiming that he had not authorised a Czech dissident, Pavel Licko, to give the manuscript to Bethell, and that Licko was a Soviet agent. Bethell rejected those claims, pointing out that Solzhenitsyn had accepted royalties from the publication of the translation over the years. Solzhenitsyn had been completely unknown in the West until Cancer Ward was published, and he won the 1970 Nobel Prize for Literature, primarily for this work, although he was banned by the Soviet government from receiving it until 1974.
European Parliament
Bethell's political fortunes changed when Margaret ThatcherMargaret Thatcher
Margaret Hilda Thatcher, Baroness Thatcher, was Prime Minister of the United Kingdom from 1979 to 1990...
became leader of the Conservative Party. He was nominated to become a member of the European Parliament
European Parliament
The European Parliament is the directly elected parliamentary institution of the European Union . Together with the Council of the European Union and the Commission, it exercises the legislative function of the EU and it has been described as one of the most powerful legislatures in the world...
from 1975 to 1979, and sat as an elected MEP
Member of the European Parliament
A Member of the European Parliament is a person who has been elected to the European Parliament. The name of MEPs differ in different languages, with terms such as europarliamentarian or eurodeputy being common in Romance language-speaking areas.When the European Parliament was first established,...
for London Northwest from 1979 to 1994. He set up the "Freedom of the Skies" in 1980, campaigning to force airlines to reduce their prices which he believed were artificially inflated by a cartel
Cartel
A cartel is a formal agreement among competing firms. It is a formal organization of producers and manufacturers that agree to fix prices, marketing, and production. Cartels usually occur in an oligopolistic industry, where there is a small number of sellers and usually involve homogeneous products...
. Perceived as too European, he was not re-elected in 1994, but returned to the European Parliament as MEP for London Central
London Central (European Parliament constituency)
Prior to its uniform adoption of proportional representation in 1999, the United Kingdom used first-past-the-post for the European elections in England, Scotland and Wales...
from 1999 to 2003. He was awarded the European People's Party
European People's Party
The European People's Party is a pro-European centre-right European political party. The EPP was founded in 1976 by Christian democratic parties, but later it increased its membership to include conservative parties and parties of other centre-right perspectives.The EPP is the most influential of...
's Schuman Medal in 2003.
Bethell was staunchly anti-communist
Anti-communism
Anti-communism is opposition to communism. Organized anti-communism developed in reaction to the rise of communism, especially after the 1917 October Revolution in Russia and the beginning of the Cold War in 1947.-Objections to communist theory:...
. In such books as Betrayed, he strongly supported the Anglo-American efforts to overthrow the Communist regimes of Eastern Europe. What Bethell criticized was the execution of such operations, not their goal. He used his European post to campaign for the human rights
Human rights
Human rights are "commonly understood as inalienable fundamental rights to which a person is inherently entitled simply because she or he is a human being." Human rights are thus conceived as universal and egalitarian . These rights may exist as natural rights or as legal rights, in both national...
of dissident
Dissident
A dissident, broadly defined, is a person who actively challenges an established doctrine, policy, or institution. When dissidents unite for a common cause they often effect a dissident movement....
s in the Soviet bloc, including Andrei Sakharov
Andrei Sakharov
Andrei Dmitrievich Sakharov was a Soviet nuclear physicist, dissident and human rights activist. He earned renown as the designer of the Soviet Union's Third Idea, a codename for Soviet development of thermonuclear weapons. Sakharov was an advocate of civil liberties and civil reforms in the...
and Anatoly Sharansky. He took a leading role in the foundation of the Sakharov Prize
Sakharov Prize
The Sakharov Prize for Freedom of Thought, named after Soviet scientist and dissident Andrei Sakharov, was established in December 1988 by the European Parliament as a means to honour individuals or organisations who have dedicated their lives to the defence of human rights and freedom of thought...
, awarded by the European Parliament
European Parliament
The European Parliament is the directly elected parliamentary institution of the European Union . Together with the Council of the European Union and the Commission, it exercises the legislative function of the EU and it has been described as one of the most powerful legislatures in the world...
since 1985. After the fall of Communism, he continued to support critics of the Russian government, such as Vladimir Gusinsky
Vladimir Gusinsky
Vladimir Aleksandrovich Gusinsky is a Russian media baron, is known as the founder of Media-Most holding that included Most Bank, the NTV channel, the newspaper Segodnya and magazines.-Life and career:Gusinsky was born in Moscow....
and Alexander Litvinenko
Alexander Litvinenko
Alexander Valterovich Litvinenko was an officer who served in the Soviet KGB and its Russian successor, the Federal Security Service ....
. He was also one of the first people to interview Nelson Mandela
Nelson Mandela
Nelson Rolihlahla Mandela served as President of South Africa from 1994 to 1999, and was the first South African president to be elected in a fully representative democratic election. Before his presidency, Mandela was an anti-apartheid activist, and the leader of Umkhonto we Sizwe, the armed wing...
at Pollsmoor Prison in 1985.
Awards
He became a Commander of the Polish Order of Merit in 1991, and received a Russian Presidential Award in 1992. Bethell was the president of the Uxbridge Conservative Association from 1995 to 1999. He was active in the movement to keep GibraltarGibraltar
Gibraltar is a British overseas territory located on the southern end of the Iberian Peninsula at the entrance of the Mediterranean. A peninsula with an area of , it has a northern border with Andalusia, Spain. The Rock of Gibraltar is the major landmark of the region...
British, serving as president of the Friends of Gibraltar's Heritage from 1992 to 2001. For this he received the Freedom of the City of Gibraltar and the Gibraltar Medallion of Honour
Gibraltar Medallion of Honour
The Gibraltar Medallion of Honour is a civil award scheme established by the Government of the British overseas territory of Gibraltar. Its creation was announced in July 2008 by Chief Minister of Gibraltar, Peter Caruana...
in 2008. He also opposed the Turkish
Turkey
Turkey , known officially as the Republic of Turkey , is a Eurasian country located in Western Asia and in East Thrace in Southeastern Europe...
occupation of northern Cyprus, and was president of the Friends of Cyprus Association from 2001.
Private life
Bethell married twice. He married, firstly, Cecilia Mary Lothian Honeyman on 7 April 1964. She was the daughter of Alexander Honeyman, professor of oriental languages at St Andrews University. They had two sons, James and William, but divorced in 1971; she died in 1977. He remarried in 1992, to Bryony Lea Morgan Griffiths. They had one son, John. They resided in LondonLondon
London is the capital city of :England and the :United Kingdom, the largest metropolitan area in the United Kingdom, and the largest urban zone in the European Union by most measures. Located on the River Thames, London has been a major settlement for two millennia, its history going back to its...
. He enjoyed playing tennis
Tennis
Tennis is a sport usually played between two players or between two teams of two players each . Each player uses a racket that is strung to strike a hollow rubber ball covered with felt over a net into the opponent's court. Tennis is an Olympic sport and is played at all levels of society at all...
and poker
Poker
Poker is a family of card games that share betting rules and usually hand rankings. Poker games differ in how the cards are dealt, how hands may be formed, whether the high or low hand wins the pot in a showdown , limits on bet sizes, and how many rounds of betting are allowed.In most modern poker...
, and was a member of the Garrick Club
Garrick Club
The Garrick Club is a gentlemen's club in London.-History:The Garrick Club was founded at a meeting in the Committee Room at Theatre Royal, Drury Lane on Wednesday 17 August 1831...
and Pratt's
Pratt's
Pratt's is a gentlemen's club in London. It was established in 1857, with premises in a multi-storey town house in Park Place, off St James' Street. It takes its name from William Nathaniel Pratt, who lived there from 1841. Pratt was steward to the Duke of Beaufort, who called at the house with...
.
He suffered from Parkinson's disease
Parkinson's disease
Parkinson's disease is a degenerative disorder of the central nervous system...
in later life, dying at age 69. He was survived by his second wife, and his three sons. He was succeeded in the barony by his eldest son, James Bethell, the 5th Baron Bethell.
Works
- Wladyslaw GomulkaWladyslaw GomulkaWładysław Gomułka was a Polish Communist leader. He was the de facto leader of Poland from 1945 to 1948, and again from 1956 to 1970.-Life and career:...
: his Poland and his communism, New York: Holt, Rinehart and Winston, 1969. - The War Hitler Won, September 1939, London: A. Lane 1972.
- The Last Secret : forcible repatriation to Russia 1944-7 with introduction by Hugh Trevor-RoperHugh Trevor-Roper, Baron Dacre of GlantonHugh Redwald Trevor-Roper was an English historian of early modern Britain and Nazi Germany. He was made a life peer by Margaret Thatcher in 1979, choosing the title Baron Dacre of Glanton.-Early life and education:...
, London : Deutsch, 1974. - Russia Besieged, Alexandria, Va. : Time-Life Books, 1977.
- The Palestine Triangle: the struggle between the British, the Jews and the Arabs, 1935-48, London : Deutsch, 1979.
- Betrayed, London: Times Books, 1984; published as The great betrayal: the untold story of Kim Philby's biggest coup, Toronto: Hodder & Stoughton, 1984 in North America.
- Spies and Other Secrets, 1994.
Translations
- Six Plays by Slawomir MrozekSlawomir MrozekSławomir Mrożek is a Polish dramatist and writer. In 1963 Mrożek emigrated to France and then further to Mexico. In 1996 he returned to Poland and settled in Kraków. In 2008 he moved back to France....
. - Elegy to John Donne, And Other Poems, London: Longmans 1967 by Joseph BrodskyJoseph BrodskyIosif Aleksandrovich Brodsky , was a Russian poet and essayist.In 1964, 23-year-old Brodsky was arrested and charged with the crime of "social parasitism" He was expelled from the Soviet Union in 1972 and settled in America with the help of W. H. Auden and other supporters...
. - Cancer Ward by Aleksandr SolzhenitsynAleksandr SolzhenitsynAleksandr Isayevich Solzhenitsyn was aRussian and Soviet novelist, dramatist, and historian. Through his often-suppressed writings, he helped to raise global awareness of the Gulag, the Soviet Union's forced labor camp system – particularly in The Gulag Archipelago and One Day in the Life of...
, 1968. - The Love Girl and the Innocent by Aleksandr SolzhenitsynAleksandr SolzhenitsynAleksandr Isayevich Solzhenitsyn was aRussian and Soviet novelist, dramatist, and historian. Through his often-suppressed writings, he helped to raise global awareness of the Gulag, the Soviet Union's forced labor camp system – particularly in The Gulag Archipelago and One Day in the Life of...
, 1969. - The Ascent of Mount Fuji by Chingiz Aitmatov, 1975.